Katie came into my life when my friend Jane brought her along when we got a house together. She was a cute, friendly hamster, named after the eponymous heroine of What Katy Did. Her tenure overlapped with that of Binky, but fortunately his predatory instincts begin and end with a catnip mouse. He showed curiosity without aggression when she was in her cage, and would scamper away when she charged at him in her hamster ball. When in that ball she had an unerring ability to make directly for any drinks that were on the floor; glasses of wine were a particular favourite of hers.
I’m fortunate enough not to have had much scope for heroic action in my life, but Katie presented me with an opportunity to prove my mettle. I think of it as my finest hour. Jane and I had a unexpected weekend away, and on the way home I dropped her off at her boyfriend’s, then returned to a dark cold house. Katie was asleep. Deeply asleep. Dangerously deep. She had gone into hibernation mode, which can be quite dangerous, particularly if the hamster is getting on a bit, as Katie was.
I picked her up, and tried to warm her in my hands; I could feel her tiny heart beating slowly, but I wasn’t sure if it was speeding up or not. I used her water bottle to drop a little bit of water on her mouth, and waved a hamster treat under her nose. She seemed to be responding a bit, so I popped her in some bedding, then microwaved some tea towels, to wrap her up in. This seemed to help, and gradually she started twitching her whiskers and moving about a bit. I continued in the same vein, and a few days later she was up and running, playing hamster-bowling with our wine glasses. Like I said earlier, my finest hour…
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